Viral image of woman who stuck pencils in her eyes leads to Los Angeles County lawsuit

LOS ANGELES — A lawsuit was filed on behalf of a woman who stuck pencils in her eyes in a suicide attempt and whose image — captured by someone at County-USC Medical Center — went viral.

The lawsuit, naming Los Angeles County, the hospital and two non-county employees — Linda Araujo Shivers and her son, Joshua Shivers — was brought Monday by the woman’s conservator and guardian, David Bliss. The plaintiff is identified only as Jane Doe.

The Los Angeles Superior Court complaint alleges intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, intrusion upon seclusion, public disclosure of private facts, breach of duty and confidentiality and unauthorized disclosure of medical information.

The suit seeks unspecified damages.

County spokesman David Sommers could not be reached for immediate comment.

According to the complaint, the woman was admitted to the county-run hospital about 2 1/2 years ago after trying to kill herself by thrusting pencils into her eyes. She survived, but was blinded, the suit states.

Someone at the hospital, believed to have been a nurse, took an unauthorized photo of the woman with the pencils protruding from her eyes and gave the image to a third party, the suit states. The third party shared the photo with Joshua Shivers, who on July 20 used his mother’s computer to upload it onto “one of the most visited shock websites in the world,” the suit states

The same day, Joshua Shivers took credit for his actions on a social networking site, saying, “I finally made it in life. Please check out my shiz,” and included a link to the photo, the suit states.

A week later, he placed the same photo onto a “popular entertainment and social media website,” the suit states

The photo has nearly 200,000 views and has been commented upon by numerous people, the suit states.

“Many of the comments are exceedingly hurtful, judgmental and tasteless,” the suit states

Until the photo was made public, the woman was on the road to recovery, the suit states. She learned Braille, is using a computer and a phone despite being blind and is enrolled in college, the suit states.

The woman, who is aware of the photo being made public, worries about how it will affect her later in life, the suit states.